


I'm Yours, You're Mine

by AkuChibi



Series: Bad Luck and Trouble [2]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: 5 in 1 that got away from me, Atticus Ryder, Falling In Love, Idiots in Love, Jealousy, M/M, Past Peebee/Ryder, Past Relationship(s), Reyes has fallen hard and he can't get up, Reyes is a jealous man, Scott's name is Atty here, and possessive, don't touch what's his, maybe some hurt-comfort, some fluff because why not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-15 04:28:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19288123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkuChibi/pseuds/AkuChibi
Summary: Reyes Vidal isn't jealous. Still, people need to keep their greedy hands off his boyfriend or there's going to be hell to pay.(He’s in over his head, but if this is what drowning feels like, he thinks it’s not such a bad way to go.)





	1. Primal Fury

**Author's Note:**

> A 5-and-1 that got away from me. Starts slow but kind of has an over-arcing plot (kind of?) as the bits continue, and the rest are longer than this first initial chapter. Takes place between Kiss, Kiss and A Lesson in Bad Decisions. I'm also working on some NSFW fics for them but we'll see how they turn out and if I'm going to post them xD Let me know if there are any little ideas you want me to write for these two, as this series is just going to be one-shots and short stories centered on moments in their lives. I have until chapter 4 of this fic written, but we'll see how it goes. Also, again, you don't super need to read the other stories to get the gist of this one, but I do still recommend reading at least Kiss, Kiss before this one.

Reyes Vidal is a man of refined primal urges. He drinks and eats when and what he wants; if something catches his eye, it’s his by default, even if it takes a while for the other person to realize they’re simply holding onto his new possessions. He thought he was done with the childish _mine_ phase, wherein everything he sees and touches is _his_ and cannot be handled by anyone else, under penalty of intense screaming matches and all the aggressive fury a three-year-old can unleash on some poor unsuspecting victim.

Apparently, he hasn’t fully outgrown that stage, or Atty just brings it out in him. He’s not sure which.

All he knows is that woman had better get her damn greedy hands off his Pathfinder, or he might have to raze this whole place to the ground, Umi’s fury be damned.

Reyes is too far to hear the entirety of the conversation. He’s responding to a message on his omni-tool when he glances up and sees that bitch trespassing where she’s not welcome. Her hand is glued to Atty’s shoulder and Atty is smiling at her. _Smiling_. She’s smiling back, and when her finger twists, gently caressing the line of his shoulder – _a line Reyes has traced himself many times, a line that is_ his _to trace and absolutely no one else’s_ – Reyes starts toward them quickly.

He catches the tail end of her, “-won’t you let me buy you a drink?” and Atty’s quiet laugh before-

“I already have a drink,” Atty says, nodding at the one on the table next to him. He’s standing next to their table, having gotten refills on their drinks while Reyes stepped away for a moment, but he was apparently unable to sit back down before this woman assaulted him.

Atty looks over her shoulder and smiles at Reyes, relief flitting across his face momentarily. It’s enough to make that knot in Reyes’s stomach loosen, even if only slightly, because for a moment, when he saw Atty smiling at her and heard that quiet laugh which is usually reserved for _him_ -

 _He’s just being polite,_ he tells himself.

The woman turns to frown at him. “You’re not invited, Vidal.”

Atty barks out a quick laugh. “Deal-breaker,” he says. “I can’t accept any drinks without my boyfriend’s approval. I think that’s in the fine print somewhere.”

 _Boyfriend._ It’s a juvenile term that can’t possible describe how much Reyes cares about the human Pathfinder, but at least it ties them together. This lady must be overly annoying, Reyes thinks, for Atty to just out the two of them like that. Not that they’re really trying to hide it, but they don’t go around proclaiming to everyone that they’re together; it’s more of a hush-hush sort of thing that only a select few people know the truth about, and the rest can only speculate.

“Boyfriend?” she asks, frown deepening as her eyes narrow at Reyes. She turns a sickly sweet smile on Atty, though, and then the back of her fingers are gently caressing the side of his face, and a growl lodges somewhere in the back of Reyes’s throat. “Oh, honey. You could do so much better.”

Atty’s expression hardens and he bats her hand away. “I think it’s time you left now.”

“But we could be so great together,” she says with another flirtatious smile.

Reyes grabs her by the arm and harshly pulls her away. She glares at him and swats at his shoulder, but he doesn’t let go until she’s out of Kralla’s Song and he’s watched the door for several seconds to see if she’s trying to return. She doesn’t, at least not right then, so he spins on his heel and finds Atty directly behind him, smirking at him, those bright green eyes focused on him and only him.

“Hey,” Atty says quietly, fingers snagging in the front of Reyes’s shirt to draw him closer. A light brush of lips, and then Atty says, “you wanna get out of here?”

And then Reyes is dragging his lover out of the club. They don’t make it very far, though – only down to Tartarus’s back room instead of the dingy little place Reyes has set up for himself, a temporary home of sorts. The back room will do just fine, though; luckily, Atty isn’t picky about location.

Reyes pushes and Atty sits, watching him with a soft, easy smile and a part of Reyes wishes it could be like this all the time. _Stop leaving,_ he wants to say. _Just stay here and we can do this all the time._

But he knows Atty has to be out there, just as he knows his own place is here. They’re tied to vastly different walks of life and maybe that should be a sign they need to part ways – but the thought of walking away is just as painful today as it was when Atty did it to him after Sloane’s death in that cave.

He’s in over his head, but if this is what drowning feels like, he thinks it’s not such a bad way to go.

His fingers caress the side of Atty’s face, dragging over the soft skin where that bitch tried to do the same. There’s no possible way he can feel the remnants of her touch, but it’s almost like he can, in his mind. Like Atty’s been stained for just a moment, and he needs to wipe the evidence away.

“Where all did she touch you?” he finds himself asking, because he wasn’t paying attention the whole time, only there toward the end after he was finished with his Charlatan messages.

Atty grins. “My ass.”

Reyes splutters. “She _what-_ ”

Hands capture his wrists and drag them downward so his fingers and palms settle firmly over the curve of Atty’s rear, and Reyes quirks a brow at the Pathfinder.

“You’re toying with me, aren’t you?”

“You’re gonna touch where she touched, yeah? In that case she grabbed my-”

Reyes’s mouth covers his lover’s, silencing him briefly. “Say no more,” he says, squeezing those cheeks he loves so much. “I’ll take good care of you.”


	2. Repeat Performances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyes learns about the 'no strings attached tension relief' between Peebee and Ryder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of these little ones were written in a haze while I wasn't feeling too well, so hopefully they still sound okay xD Who knows, though. 
> 
> For a timeline, it goes like this: Kiss, Kiss handles them officially getting together and whatnot; this story is about them essentially going public because Reyes is tired of people thinking Atty's available; the third is what happens when someone breaks the rules (which will be established in chapter 3 of this one). So, there, I guess xD
> 
> Hope it sounds okay! I feel like I can't do jealous Reyes very well.

The human Pathfinder is a popular man, even on Kadara. Sure, some despise him, but all can at least agree that he’s handsome and they’d enjoy ‘riding that’ or ‘boning that’ or some other absurd phrasing. For the most part, words don’t bother Reyes because he’s the one Atty seeks out whenever he’s here; _him_ , not any of his countless admirers.

But sometimes words do get to him.

“What did you just say?” he asks, staring hard at Peebee, who blinks back at him, confused by his sudden change in tone.

“Ryder’s birthmark,” she repeats, like Reyes’s hearing suddenly went out mid-conversation.

Normally, discussing a birthmark isn’t so crazy. In fact, it falls right in line with what they were discussing: humans and their birthmarks, and Peebee’s apparent fascination with marks present on a body at birth because apparently it’s different for asari, and she’s still young and immensely curious. So they started discussing birthmarks, different ones they’d seen, and then she mentioned Atty’s.

Which is fine, given the context. Fine, save for the fact Atty only has one birthmark.

And it’s on his ass. His left cheek, to be precise.

“How do you know about that?” he demands, eyes narrowing as some sort of primal fury ignites within him. He’s not a jealous man, he tells himself. It’s not jealousy if they’re already dating, because he’s not coveting something that’s not his. Atty is his; he’s possessive, not jealous. But fuck if thinking of Peebee seeing Atty naked doesn’t piss him the fuck off.

She shrugs nonchalantly, like it’s no big deal. “We used to hook up from time to time,” she says. “We’d get bored and meet in – whoa, okay, stop growling.”

He isn’t aware he’s doing it until she says something, but he is, in fact, growling under his breath, hands clenched into fists at his sides, eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. Anyone else and they might be running because Reyes Vidal might only be a smuggler, but he has his way of getting what he wants – and if he’s mad at you, and wants you dead, then you’re dead. The wrath of the Charlatan will rain down on you.

But Peebee isn’t afraid. Instead she’s just smirking at him. _Smirking_.

“I have to say,” she says, watching him, “I didn’t have you pegged as the jealous type.”

“I’m not jealous,” he spits out, and then pauses to rethink his tone and choice of words. He clears his throat. “I mean – he didn’t tell me you were together.”

“We’re not _together_ ,” she says, rolling her eyes. “We hooked up a few times for stress relief, and to work out frustrations, mainly. It was fun. No strings. Never any strings. That’s over with now that he has you, of course. We haven’t hooked up since after Sloane’s party.”

Reyes blinks at her. Sloane’s party was the first time he and Atty kissed – the first time that got him thinking. Then the rooftop kiss at sunset happened, and then-

“He was real frustrated with you,” Peebee tells him, giggling. “He couldn’t figure out why you kept kissing him every time we came here and he’d get all hot and bothered and you’d just walk away all casually. It was very frustrating for him, so we uh… worked out a lot of _tension_.”

Another growl emerges from his throat. Long and low and angry.

She laughs. Actually _laughs_. “Oh, simmer down, Vidal,” she says with a grin. “He’s all yours now – won’t even entertain the idea of being unfaithful, even on other planets.”

On a normal day, Reyes wouldn’t fall for the bait. Today isn’t a normal day, though, because he’s already fired up and ready to fight someone because of this primal rage burning through him. “What’s happened on other planets?” he demands, glaring at her again. She’s enjoying his anger; she has to be the only person in the galaxy to enjoy the Charlatan’s wrath.

Not that he’s the Charlatan in her eyes. Just lowly smuggler Reyes Vidal, because Atty is too good for him, really. He deserves so much better than Reyes, but there’s no way Reyes can let go and walk away now. Atty’s got his hooks so deep in him there’s no chance of walking away voluntarily.

“Oh, you know,” she hums, brushing nonexistent dirt off her shoulder. “Ryder’s a popular guy. People really love him. He’s done so much to fix our situation, and he’s not bad to look at, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.” She grins again, giggling at whatever expression she finds on his face. “Someone’s always offering to buy him a drink or uh – _house him_ , for the night.” She winks at him. “If you know what I mean.”

His nails bite into the skin of his palms, hands curled so tightly into fists at his sides to keep from lashing out at someone. He knows Atty won’t appreciate him attacking a member of his crew, ex-lover or not.

 _Ex-lover._ Reyes never gave much thought to Atty’s string of exes because they don’t matter now, right? But surely there’s a list of people who have been with the Pathfinder; Atty’s certainly not inexperienced in any regard, and he _is_ easy on the eyes, and his body is soft and firm in all the right places and-

“You’re too easy,” she laughs, shaking her head at him. “Don’t worry so much. For whatever reason, Ryder likes you. A lot. Like I said, he won’t even entertain the thought of even drinking with someone else, let alone following them home for even an overnight business meeting. He’s as loyal as they come.”

Reyes knows that, of course. He knows Atty is loyal, and he trusts him. It’s the other people he doesn’t trust – people all too eager to sink their teeth into the human Pathfinder for their own selfish interests, to further their own greedy agendas, and-

 _And I’m just like them,_ he can’t help but think, a knot forming in his stomach. It’s how this relationship started, after all. It was a game, an experiment, a test to see how far Atty would let him push before he pushed back, but that never happened. There were no real lines, except for the lying. Those months apart, weeks spent wondering if Atty was even alive to read his messages or was simply ignoring him, the agony at realizing Atty was, in fact, ignoring his messages because it was well and truly _over_ and Reyes just couldn’t take a fucking hint-

He could take a hint. He just didn’t want to. He refused to accept it as fact, as reality, and tried all he could to get Atty to respond, to come back to him. Eventually Atty did come back, and miraculously, things worked out between them.

And the thought of other people sinking their claws into him without even knowing the precious gem in front of them… Well.

_He’s mine._

“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you.”

_Speak of the devil._

He turns to find Atty approaching them, a grin on his face and warmth in his eyes. A part of Reyes melts at the sight of him in casual clothing; he wears his Nexus attire and armor too much, he thinks, which is really a shame because Atty in low-hanging blue jeans and a form-fitting dark red shirt is truly a marvel to behold.

“Are you ready?” Atty asks.

Reyes smiles at him. “Actually, I was thinking we might stay in tonight.”

“Stay in?” A frown crosses his lover’s face, confusion marring his brow.

They planned on going to Kralla’s Song tonight to enjoy some dinner and a few drinks like a normal date, since that’s not really their thing. Reyes wouldn’t even call it a ‘date’ except that Atty is adamant about it being one, and that they need to go on one every so often, so they do when Atty’s on-planet more than a day, which honestly isn’t all that often.

But seeing Atty in that outfit and learning how sought after the Pathfinder is… Well, Reyes isn’t all too eager to share him, even if it’s only something as simple as someone looking at him. He does look good today, after all, as he does every day – and Reyes just wants to be alone with him right now, not stuck in public with others watching their every move.

“I’ll make it up to you,” Reyes promises with a wink.

Peebee laughs, causing Reyes to shoot her a small glare, having momentarily forgotten she was there thanks to Atty’s presence. The human Pathfinder has that effect on him, and many others, it seems.

Reyes grabs Atty’s hand and guides him through the _Tempest_ , toward the Pathfinder’s quarters. It’s a familiar route he’s walked many times, and by this point in time he’s almost a fixture on the ship when it’s docked at Kadara Port. The few crew members they pass barely spare them a glance.

Once alone in Atty’s room he shoves his lover against the edge of the bed until his legs give way and they tumble together onto the covers, mouths connected, hands clawing at fabric, a fevered rhythm already spreading through them. Reyes pushes his hands into the bed, holding himself up above Atty to look down at him, quirking a brow.

“Peebee?” he asks. “Really?”

Atty blinks at him, snapped out of his fervent kissing. “What?”

“You slept with Peebee.”

“She _told_ you?” he asks, wide-eyed.

“Well, you didn’t,” Reyes says simply, and it comes out a little harsher than intended.

“It was nothing,” Atty says, frowning at him. “Honest. Just a bit of, uh… tension relief. We were both a little pent-up.”

“Uh huh,” Reyes says. “How many times?”

“Uh… I don’t know. We weren’t keeping count.”

“So, more than a few.”

“I mean… yes? Is that a problem? Don’t even get me started on your ex.”

Ah, yes. Zia. Atty had the misfortune of meeting her when she stole from Reyes and lured him into a trap, which he unknowing dragged Atty into as well.

It’s not something he likes thinking about – how easily he was tricked, how easily he could have gotten Atty killed along with himself if things had gone down even a little differently. It’s a good thing she’s dead, he thinks, or he’d kill her again for threatening to murder Atty too.

“You never told me,” he says.

“You never asked about exes. Not that Peebee even counts as one, really.”

“She slept with you,” Reyes says. “Ergo, ex.”

“Ergo, not really. I mean, you’ve had how many one-night stands? Do you classify those as exes?”

“You were exclusively with Peebee for a time,” Reyes tells him, scowling. “Over and over, like me with Zia, even if we weren’t dating. If she counts as my ex, then Peebee counts as yours.”

Atty pauses. Thinks for a second. “Alright, fine. So she’s my ex. Big deal.” His fingers snag the front of Reyes’s shirt, yanking him sharply downward so quickly his hands give way and he collapses on top of the Pathfinder with a quiet _oof_. “I’d rather forget about the past, if you don’t mind.” And then his lips are on Reyes’s, and for a time, Reyes’s mind blanks because there are hands clawing at his clothing, pushing his jacket off his shoulders to drop carelessly to the ground, fingers bunching his shirt up until he sighs and shucks it off too.

And then Atty’s arms wrap around him and roll. They spin until Reyes is flat on the bed and Atty sits across the curve of his hips, straddling him. He sits up fully and throws his shirt off, and he looks even better out of it than he did in it, which is truly saying something. All thought of conversation leaves Reyes as Atty bends back over him, kissing a line down his jaw and neck, biting and sucking at sensitive skin over his pulse point, before trailing lower.

Reyes has never been a bottom, truly, but having Atty over him like this feels right. He settles his hands over the curve of Atty’s hips and holds him in place, smiling up at him.

Atty spares him a quick grin before he slips lower, pushing at the line of Reyes’s pants. “I’ve had six exes my whole life,” he says quietly. “If you want to get technical. And yes, I’m including Kendra from eighth grade.”

Reyes snickers. “Kendra, huh? Nice pigtails, I hope.”

Atty scoffs. “Um, only the best pigtails, thank you.” He slips a hand beneath Reyes’s pants and his jeans suddenly become uncomfortable tight. He squirms under Atty but the Pathfinder just smirks down at him, watching him wriggle. “Only two serious attempts, though. Didn’t pan out, obviously.” He grips Reyes hard, causing the smuggler’s fingers to curl into his hips, probably leaving behind fingerprint bruises. “I’m all yours now.”

It’s getting hard to think, with Atty’s hand where it is. “All mine, huh?”

“All yours.”

 _All mine._ Those words shouldn’t warm him like they do, but there’s another fire burning through him that has nothing to do with anger or fury; instead it’s this intense burning heat of want and desire and _stay here, stay with me_ -

“So, your exes? I thought we were sharing.”

Reyes blinks, attempting to recollect his thoughts, but it’s increasingly difficult at the moment. “Uh… I don’t have exes.”

Atty quirks a brow. “And Zia was what, exactly?”

“Okay, so… maybe just the one.”

“You’ve never dated before?”

“Never.”

“And Zia was…?”

“A one-night stand that kept happening,” Reyes says, scowling. “I’d rather not discuss her when you’re literally on top of me.”

Atty releases him, and Reyes swallows back his groan of frustration as his lover’s hand slips out of his pants. “You can’t bring up exes and then not expect to share information.”

Reyes grits his teeth. “Zia was the first repeat performance. Then you came along.”

“Uh huh,” Atty says, watching him carefully. “And did I come along before or after the last repeat performance with her?”

“After. I am a perfect gentleman.”

Atty chuckles, low and breathy in that quiet way Reyes likes. “Well, here’s hoping to more repeat performances.”

Reyes’s heart clenches, a lump in his throat. He wants to tell Atty this is different – _their relationship is different_ – but he can’t find the words to reassure him, can’t bring himself to open up that much and actually reveal how much the human Pathfinder means to him, because it’s hard for him to even comprehend it himself, let alone attempt to put it into words.

So he says nothing.

Instead he slips a hand around the back of Atty’s neck and pulls him down until their mouths connect once more in a deep, heated kiss, intended to put into action all the words he can’t say.


	3. The Downsides of Anonymity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyes has had enough and finally outs his relationship with Ryder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one kind of foreshadows A Lesson in Bad Decisions. And they finally 'come out' to Kadara Port, so after this people know they're together when it was maybe only a rumor, if even that, before. Some people just thought Reyes had some blackmail on Atty or something and that was why they did work together.

The third time it happens, Reyes is mostly just angry with himself. Atty once mentioned going public with their relationship, damn the consequences – but Reyes said no, and Atty never asked again or said more on it. Maybe he thinks Reyes isn’t serious about him; but if that’s his worry, he hasn’t said anything about it, and he couldn’t be further from the truth anyway. Reyes _is_ serious about him, and that’s the problem.

He’s serious about Atty, but since he said no to going public he can’t just come out and claim him at random all the time, can he? He doesn’t have that right. He could stop all this flirting with a direct order from the Charlatan, but since no one knows he’s the Charlatan except Atty and Keema, he can’t make such orders without raising suspicion, and lowly smuggler Reyes Vidal can’t force people to keep their greedy eyes – _and hands_ – off his lover.

This time it’s a guy attempting to sway Atty into his bed. A guy on Reyes’s team, even – a member of the Collective, chosen for this job tonight because they’ve aided Reyes in the past. Reyes knows the guy, Jackson, and knows that he likes the low shelf swill served at Tartarus, knows he’s almost as bad as Reyes at leaving behind a string of one-night stands. He doesn’t deserve Atty – _but then, neither does Reyes._

“I’ll make it worth your while,” Jackson says, grinning at Atty as they walk toward their destination. They took Atty’s vehicle out here, but it’s rather loud compared to walking silently toward their goal, and the element of surprise might be vital here. “We could have a lot of fun together.”

“Thanks for the offer,” Atty says as politely as possible, ever the boy scout eager to let everyone down gently. “I’m flattered, but already taken.”

“Your partner doesn’t have to know.”

Atty frowns. “I don’t cheat,” he says simply, and then briskly quickens his pace to get away from the unwanted advances. Reyes quietly seethes just behind the two of them, glaring pointedly at the back of Jackson’s head. Jackson seems to sense a disturbance, the heat of a thousand angry suns burning into the back of his neck, and he turns to find Reyes glaring at him.

“What’s up, Vidal?” Jackson asks. “Someone piss in your food this morning?”

Reyes doesn’t get the chance to answer. Instead, they’re ambushed.

Bullets whiz past his face and he ducks behind the nearest cover, straining to listen for any sign of the Pathfinder, what direction he might be in, if he even made it behind cover himself. For all Reyes knows, Atty’s bleeding out on the ground right now.

He grits his teeth and risks a quick glance over the boulder he’s chosen as his cover. Atty’s about twenty yards away, ducked behind a similar boulder, much closer to their assailants. Bits of the rock chip away as bullets pepper the formation, and Atty grips his assault rifle tightly.

Reyes pulls his own weapon free and starts taking shots. They don’t have a prayer of hitting, as he’s too far away, but they do a decent job of forcing their attackers into their own bits of cover, and for a second the bullets stop spraying Atty’s rock. It’s just long enough for Atty to disappear.

One second the human Pathfinder is there; the next he’s invisible to the naked eye, activating his cloak. By the time the gunfire starts up again, he’s long gone from his cover. Reyes has no idea where he is, but he hopes he has the good sense to get out of the immediate danger zone and not do something reckless.

This is Atty he’s talking about, of course, and that’s exactly what he does – something reckless.

He uncloaks behind the group. He uses a biotic charge against someone, and when all the attention turns to him suddenly in their midst, he slams the ground with a biotic nova, forcing them off their feet and away from him. This gives the rest of them enough time to move forward. Someone shoots – Reyes shouts.

“Cease fire!” Reyes snaps at no one in particular, but his loud voice carries anyway. “You’ll hit the Pathfinder!”

Another few shots ring out, but finally they seem to realize he’s right and stop. Reyes looks around for Atty but the Pathfinder is nowhere to be seen, and for a moment he fears the worst – _Atty’s been shot. He’s bleeding out on the ground right now._

He surges forward, some leaden weight in his stomach propelling him into action. Atty’s not on the ground that he can see, but that doesn’t mean he’s not cloaked and bleeding out right now, having caught a bullet all the same. He has armor, of course; the good kind, too, not the shitty kind that passes for armor here on Kadara. Armor can only do so much, though; a shot to the neck will kill anyone.

Unable to find the Pathfinder, their assailants turn on them instead.

A lot happens all at once, then.

There’s an explosion. A cluster grenade goes off, exploding once before dropping more grenades in a wide arc around the first one, and once the dust has settled their attackers lie dead on the ground, and Atty is still nowhere to be seen.

He was the one to throw the grenade, though. He has to be.

Reyes finally makes it to the fallen attackers. He nudges one with the toe of his foot and sniffs dispassionately at the blood that stains his boot afterward. The person is dead, though, that’s for certain. He looks around, turning slowly in a circle, searching for the Pathfinder.

“Atty?” he calls quietly.

There’s a timidity to his voice which leaves him swallow, clearing his throat, and trying again.

“Atty.” Then, a little louder: “ _Ryder_.”

“The last name isn’t required,” Atty replies from just behind him, and Reyes spins to find Atty standing there, his cloak fizzling away. He’s hunched over, breathing hard with his hands on his knees, but he lifts his head and smiles at Reyes, and that knot in his stomach loosens enough to allow him to breathe properly again.

“Are you alri-”

Jackson approaches Atty, slinging an arm over his shoulders. The movement nearly knocks Atty off-balance but he manages to catch his footing all the same, frowning at Jackson.

“That was awesome,” Jackson said. “Won’t you let me buy you a drink after this?”

Atty lights extracts himself from Jackson’s arm. “Bad idea,” he says, shaking his head. “My boyfriend’s the jealous type, you see. First he’ll kill you, then he might even kill me, and that’s just not how I want today to end.”

Reyes fights the urge to roll his eyes, but only because he’s so busy attempting to bite his tongue and hold back his barely leashed rage as he glares once again at Jackson.

“Sounds controlling,” Jackson sniffs distastefully. “You should dump him.”

The mirth fades from Atty’s eyes. He stares at Jackson blankly. “The answer’s no.”

“What, you think you’re too good for me, is that it?” He reaches for Atty again, fingers snagging his wrist to yank him a step closer. Atty yelps, wrapping one arm around his middle as he sucks in a sharp hiss of pain, and then Jackson is on the ground.

Reyes blinks. He doesn’t remember moving, but his fist is definitely aching after slamming into the back of Jackson’s head. Jackson blurrily looks up at him, blood dripping from his nose.

“What the fuck was that, Vidal?” he snaps angrily.

“Don’t fucking touch him,” Reyes retorts sharply, without really giving his mouth permission to speak those words. He’s aware of everyone’s eyes on him, watching his every move, and he knows they must have clued into the fact he’s with Atty at this point; they’re not stupid, after all, and they’re used to him being calm and collected – not violent and angry, passionate.

“My hero,” Atty says with a quiet little laugh. A hand lands on Reyes’s shoulder, barely felt over his armor, but the weight feels right all the same. “Don’t kill him, though. He’s definitely not worth it.”

Jackson’s eyes narrow. “You’re telling me _you_ snagged the Pathfinder? You? You have to be fucking kidding me. How the hell did you manage that?”

“He has cheesy pick-up lines,” Atty says. “My one weakness.”

“Just the one?” Reyes can’t help but quip, despite the rage burning through him. He keeps glaring down at Jackson, and he’s aware of his pistol in his free hand, which he didn’t notice until now. Huh. When did he draw that?

“Big brown puppy eyes,” Atty replies. “A double whammy.”

Reyes snorts. The urge to murder the man in front of him dissipates enough he can put his gun away, but he still wants to throttle Jackson for daring to touch what’s his, for not taking no for an answer the first time Atty politely declined.

A few of their other teammates surround Jackson then and get him back to his feet, holding onto his arms. Jackson throws Reyes another quick glare as they march him past Reyes and Atty, but then he’s gone back toward that monstrosity Atty calls a vehicle.

Atty steps closer to Reyes, invading his personal space – _but he has every right to be there_.

Hands loops around his waist and tug him close. It’s clunky and a little uncomfortable with the armor, but having Atty close like this is not something Reyes will ever say no to, so he wraps his arms around his lover as well and just holds on.

“I kind of like you jealous,” Atty tells him with a warm smile. “Means you care.”

Reyes tongue threatens to stick to the roof of his mouth. “Of course I care.”

“I know you do,” Atty says quietly. “It’s just nice to have it reaffirmed sometimes.” He leans forward, pressing a soft, chaste kiss to Reyes’s lips. “Besides, I’m yours, remember? Only yours.”

“Only mine,” Reyes repeats quietly, and kissing him again.

Atty pulls back afterward. “I guess they know now, huh? I’m sorry. I tried to keep it quiet like you wanted.”

Guilt gnaws at him. “We don’t have to keep it quiet.”

A brow quirks upward. “We don’t?”

“I’m tired of peeling people off you.”

“It’s not like I’m gonna run away with them.”

“Oh, I know. I trust _you_. It’s them I don’t trust.”

They might try to run away with the Pathfinder – force him with them against his will, because no matter how much progress this planet has made, Kadara is still filled with exiles. Murders, criminals, people who do shady things all the time because that’s just the only way they know how to live. People like Reyes. Reyes has his own set of morals, skewed though they may be, but he knows of some people living here who don’t have such morals.

He’ll have to enforce his whole ‘ _don’t fuck with the human Pathfinder_ ’ rule more firmly, he thinks. Fucking with the Pathfinder doesn’t just mean hurting him. Just don’t fuck with him in any way, under penalty of death. Maybe that’s harsh – but if he has to see Atty grabbed like that again, yelping in pain, he’s going to take his time killing someone.


End file.
